For the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia 2012, Glenis and over 50 other European politicians and leaders are part of a video which tells LGBT teenagers they are committed to making things better, and putting an end to homophobia and transphobia.

Glenis explained: “If you grow up lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, it can be hugely challenging.   Bullying, self-harm, and sometimes suicide attempts are all too common.    Research consistently shows higher physical and mental health risks for LGBT young people.”

“The global theme of the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia is youth and education, and I hope that the video we made will be seen as a real support for LGBT young people, and an indication of our commitment to ‘make things better’.

But it’s not just the health of our economy that’s suffering, the health and wellbeing of ordinary people is feeling the strain of the crisis. Last year there was a 40% rise in suicides in Greece. In the UK we are seeing our National Health Service being pulled apart.

Now more than ever we need a strong health programme in the EU. Of course EU countries all run their own healthcare systems, but working at a European level can add real value. By sharing data, research, ideas and policies across our continent we can achieve much better results for patients than we could if we worked alone.

Look at the work that’s been done under previous EU health programmes on screening guidelines for breast, cervical and now colorectal cancer. By working together we’ve raised the standards across Europe and saved the lives of thousands of people who, without screening, would not have found their cancer until it was too late.

Work has already begun on co-ordinating research into Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, which, as the population ages across Europe, is one of the biggest challenges for our future. Rather than each European country collecting the necessary data, carrying out their own research and trying out different policy solutions, we can work together across the EU to deal with this growing problem much more efficiently.

And if you look at the rise in obesity, which the World Health Organisation describes as one of the greatest public health challenges of the 21st century, we need to work at a European level. So much of our legislation on food and nutrition labelling is made in Brussels that it would be stupid not to.

I’m currently working on the proposals for the new EU ‘Health for Growth’ programme for 2014-2020. And there’s a lot of work to do, starting with the name, which I want to change to ‘Health for All’. For me health is an invaluable thing in itself, and it shouldn’t be seen as a way to make money. Of course we do have to look at it in the context of the current economic situation, and I think that means looking at prevention strategies as much as possible. If we can tackle smoking, alcohol abuse, unbalanced diets and physical inactivity now, we will save huge amounts of money treating entirely preventable chronic diseases later down the line. But above all our goal should be healthier and happier people, who will, of course, contribute to a healthier economy.

In this unique video message, Members of the European Parliament tell young people it gets better in 17 different languages, from Italian to Bulgarian and Swedish to Polish.

Visit the website of the Intergroup on LGBT Rights for more information.

Mrs Willmott, Labour MEP for the East Midlands said: “While the economic crisis loudly rumbles on, a much quieter crisis is happening all around us, in every country in the European Union.

“With ageing populations, there are more and more people suffering from neuro-degenerative diseases.   Already over 35 million people are living with Alzheimer’s and other dementias worldwide, with this number due to double by 2030.

Labour’s European spokesperson on Public Health explained how new EU proposals included in the Health for Growth Programme could provide real added value.

“We need to share data about dementia, collecting it in a similar way, allowing us all to compare results, and we also need to coordinate our research into the disease.

“And we have to look at common policies. How can we make sure people are diagnosed early? How do we ease the burden on families the patient?

“The EU’s Health for Growth programme offers opportunities to work together across the EU, taking the best that Europe can provide, while allowing individual governments the freedom and autonomy to deliver effective health care in their own way.

“And while attention is understandably devoted to the crisis in the Eurozone, we must not miss out on chances to work together on issues in other fields, most notably public health.

This particular “story” refers to the European Year of Citizens 2013 which, far from publicising Britain’s benefit system, will actually promote citizens’ rights, including voting rights, consumer rights and right to work and study across the EU.

Within a couple of hours, Labour MEPs had produced a rebuttal.  But, despite this, the latest euromyth is born.

Like death and taxes, it seems they will always be with us. They have become part of the political fixtures and fittings, the tabloids love them, they have a special section devoted to correcting them on the European Commission website , they have a Wikipedia entry and the BBC even published a guide to the “best euromyths” as part of its coverage of the European Union at 50 a couple of years ago.

The most famous – or infamous – is the Brussels ban on bent bananas, which has been around so long no one can quite remember if Brussels was supposed to have banned bent or straight bananas or whether it might have been cucumbers anyway.

A quick survey of some recent additions to the euromyth library reveals that the EU is banning high heels for hairdressers, while insisting on hairnets for fishermen!  And apparently those “barmy Brussels bureaucrats” are forcing the closure of Britain’s final salary pension schemes, demanding EU flags on England football shirts, banning children blowing up balloons, while allowing experiments on stray cats and dogs.

Except, of course, they’re doing nothing of the sort.   As ever, the key part of the word “euromyth” is the “myth” bit!    But certain British tabloids rarely let facts get in the way of a good headline.

And, as time goes by, myth and reality become indistinguishable.   Many people remember the infamous European Commission “plan” to insist on re-naming British sausages as “emulsified high-fat offal tubes”.   You may even recall that a successful campaign to see off the dastardly Europeans was led by a certain Jim Hacker.   Not the real world, but the BBC comedy “Yes Minister.”

That’s why it’s useful every now and then to remind ourselves of what the EU actually has done – as opposed to the euromyth.

Things like rights for people at work, such as more protection for the consumer, such as cleaner air and water  . . . . and such as legislation to bring cheaper mobile phone bills – passed in the European Parliament just the other week.

Can anything be done to correct the record?  I suspect not.  Unfortunately, though many of us challenge these myths whenever we hear them, the readership of our collective e-bulletins, websites and blogs still doesn’t quite reach the levels of the Daily Express.

Hosting an event to launch the report on alcohol policy, Mrs Willmott said that estimated social costs attributed to alcohol amounted to over €150 million.

“And of course the human cost of alcohol dependency is enormous.” She said.  “This issue must be addressed not only at national level but at European level too.”

The MEP, who is Labour’s public health spokesperson in the European Parliament, added: “Much of the legislation we work on in the Parliament can have a huge effect on alcohol policy.  We missed a huge opportunity last year when we agreed new food labelling laws.”

“I was fighting to have more nutritional labelling on alcohol, including the amount of calories labelled on the front of the bottle.   Unfortunately my amendments were rejected after fierce opposition from the drinks industry, and alcohol was excluded from the legislation altogether.”

“We have a new opportunity this year as we will be debating the new EU Health for Growth programme, and I’m pleased that the European Commission has identified alcohol as a key risk factor for many diseases.”

“I’m also hopeful that the Commission will come forward with a new EU alcohol strategy as the current one runs out at the end of this year.”

“This is a chance to take some real action to address alcohol dependency, it’s economic, social and human costs.”

MEPs voted to control the cost of making calls from abroad as well as receiving calls from home.  They also voted to bring down the charges for “data roaming” which covers downloading information from the internet.

Glenis Willmott, Labour MEP for the East Midlands, said: “Mobile phone companies have been ripping off holidaymakers and business people from the East Midlands for too long.”

“The practice of charging different rates across national boundaries has always been artificial, in effect an excuse for charging higher prices.   Today’s vote will lower costs considerably and for those travelling abroad and using their mobile it will be a real benefit.   It will be cheaper to make or receive calls, send texts or check Facebook or the football scores online.”

“We wanted to get rid of roaming charges altogether but unfortunately MEPs from right wing parties supported the phone companies and we had to agree on a temporary measure.”

“However, if roaming prices have not come all the way down to domestic levels by 2016, then the European Commission will be obliged to propose additional legislation to ensure that roaming charges are identical to domestic prices.”

“At a time when everything else seems to be going up in price, I’m delighted that we’ve been able to force mobile phone prices in the opposite direction.”

The campaign, organised by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), argues that knowing how to stop bleeding, open an airway or perform CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation), should be considered as important as knowing your times tables. 

Glenis said: “The amount of lives it would save in the long run could be staggering. As spokesperson for Labour MEPs on public health, I am extremely supportive of this campaign.   The aim would be to create a new generation of life savers across the UK by ensuring that emergency life support skills are taught in all schools and communities.”

“I’m delighted also that Ed Miliband, Leader of the Labour Party, has also publicly supported the idea of CPR  training in schools.” 

“The BHF campaign also links in well with other European campaigns.  For example, I recently signed a Written Declaration in the European Parliament, calling for greater awareness and education of the general public, and healthcare professionals with regard to cardiac arrest.”  

But Humphries failed to challenge Cameron’s anodyne statement adequately, and to highlight Tory hypocrisy.

What he could – indeed should – have asked was: “If the Conservatives are serious about addressing tax avoidance, why did Tory MEPs vote against measures to combat tax fraud and tax evasion in the European Parliament only last week?

Tory MEPs were virtually alone in voting against a Resolution demanding concrete ways to combat tax fraud and tax evasion.  It called for the introduction of automatic data sharing to crack down on those seeking to hide their money from the tax authorities.   It also demanded that cross border companies from all sectors report on their payments to governments to better detect corporate tax avoidance.

The Resolution was backed by all of the major European political groups including Socialists & Democrats, European Peoples Party, Alliance of Liberals, the Greens and European Left/Nordic Green Left Party . . . . . . . . but not the British Tories.

They refused to take on the privileged tax dodgers and fraudsters, despite a recent damning report from HM Treasury.  This showed that £18.5 billion of UK revenue was lost to tax evasion, and that Britain’s 20 biggest tax avoiders have used loopholes to legally reduce their income tax bills by a total of £145 million.

Perhaps no great surprise, but how many more times must we have the situation where the Tories say one thing in the UK, and do something totally differently in Brussels and Strasbourg. . . . and that it should go unreported by British TV and newspapers?

We may not expect a great deal from the Tories, but we should demand much more from our media.